Community Designs are registered at the Office for
Harmonisation
in the Internal Market (Trademarks and Designs)
in Alicante, otherwise known as OHIM.
Registered designs are protected for a period of five years; they can
be renewed four times (therefore providing a maximum of 25 years of protection).
The registration allows one to forbid completely the putting on the market
of any design which does not produce a different overall impression,
therefore allows an owner to exclude all later creations without having
to prove that they are based on copies of his design.
The applicants can defer its publication for up to 30 months. That means
that
creators and industries can apply for the registration and at the same
time keep their designs secret until they are put on the market. Therefore
potential competitors will not be allowed to look at their designs and the
competitive edge of the applicant is maintained.
